The Long Goodbye Page #6

it might just turn out that... I leave you.

Maybe you should.

Maybe I should.

Oh, baby.

Aw, Jesus, Jesus. Sit down, sit down.

Sit down.

I'm sorry I said that, but you're the only

thing I've got left. Don't you know that?

Perhaps I'm just your excuse.

Perhaps that's true,

but... I just wish I could...

Oh, God.

If I could only...

If I could just get you to understand that...

when a writer can't write,

it's like being impotent.

I understand what that's like too.

Yeah. Oh, you do, huh?

You do.

Balls, baby! Balls!

Why don't you remember the good

we had together, the beautiful times?

I got an idea.

Why don't you call the Marlboro Man in

here and ask him a couple of questions?

- It's none of his business.

- Do what I say.

You ask him "Marlboro,

when was the last time you made love

at the lighthouse

on Point Venus in Tahiti?"

Or out on the lagoon,

that shining lagoon with the goddamn surf

booming on the Barrier Reef?

Or up on Whitney that night of the blizzard

in the double mummy bag? Ask him that.

It's none of his business!

Maybe it is. Maybe it is.

- Please don't.

- Don't, don't, don't, don't. Balls!

Hey! Marlboro!

Well, Contessa, here he is.

Here's the man.

You may ask your questions, please.

Contessa!

Missed the son of a b*tch.

You know what I wish you'd do?

I wish you'd take that goddamn tie off

and settle down with me and have a little

old-fashioned, man-to-man drinking party.

That's OK with me,

but I'm not gonna take my tie off.

You leave your tie on. I got champagne,

beer, Scotch, bourbon, aquavit, port.

- What are you drinking?

- What I'm drinking is called aquavit.

- I'm drinking what you're drinking.

- God bless you. I like to hear that.

An awful lot of people say "I want this,

I want that, and a twist of lemon. " Balls!

Make yourself comfortable.

D'you mind sitting in the sun?

- I'll sit in the sun.

- Won't hurt you.

I know that.

Aquavit.

There you go.

You wanna lift a toast to anything?

Shall we drink to your wife?

- I say we drink to all of us.

- OK.

- Caraway seeds?

- Yeah, it's true.

- You been around more than it looks like.

- Just a little bit.

I got to say it - I don't really want to,

in light of your profession.

- But you've got a pretty good face.

- You study faces?

You don't get to grow a face like mine

unless you know a lot about men's faces.

What about ladies' faces?

- What about ladies' faces?

- I don't know.

- Why'd you ask?

- I was just wondering.

You're a real ding-a-ling.

What you say doesn't quite make sense.

And you're in a little trouble

with Marty Augustine, huh?

Yeah.

- How much you into him for?

- I don't know. I never made a bet.

- Why are you in trouble with him?

- Don't ask me. You know him good?

The son of a b*tch.

I'd hate to tell you how much

the bastard owes me.

- He owes you money?

- Yeah. $50,000.

50 grand? Won't he pay?

Drink up. If he'd already paid,

I wouldn't say he owed me, would I?

- I guess not.

- How's your glass?

I guess I could handle a little more.

50 grand. You must run into a lot of luck.

Most guys lose their undies

when they play for those kind of stakes.

- D'you know Terry Lennox?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know Terry Lennox, but he's the kind

of guy that I wouldn't let on I knew him.

Didn't like him much, huh?

Son of a b*tch.

Christ Almighty, I didn't know him.

- I hear you.

- Son of a b*tch killed himself.

- I read that.

- Let's drink to his going. Sh*t.

- You ever think about suicide, Marlboro?

- I don't believe in it.

- Did you know Sylvia Lennox?

- Sylvia. Beautiful broad.

I don't know, Marlboro.

If I was your age, I think I'd bust my ass

to get into something more dignified.

- Like writing?

- I'm not talking about myself.

# The long goodbye

# Can you recognise the theme?

I made the examination

and signed the necessary papers.

I am the coroner.

- The what? Colonel?

- No, the coroner.

I'm a doctor too, at the same time.

Good for you.

Would you care to see

some photographs?

It's your work? I noticed your camera.

You take the pictures too?

Yes, because we have no facilities here.

We have to bring ice from the hotel.

- For drinks?

- No, for the body.

I see.

Because, you see,

his death was instantaneous.

Yeah. What about the gun?

It was his. Registered to his name

in the County of Los ngeles.

You know that? Gentlemen, I appreciate

all the attention you've given me

and I hope I haven't caused you

too much inconvenience.

- You were a friend of the diseased.

- Of the deceased, yeah.

Let me get this straight. Terry Lennox

came here, he checked into a hotel,

he went up to his room,

and an hour later he killed himself.

That is correct.

You know how he got here?

It's a mystery to us.

We don't know how he came.

- What about his personal effects?

- Everything was sent back.

- But we have a list.

- You do have a list?

- You make up the lists?

- Yes.

You do everything.

- It says here that there was one bag.

- It was all sent back.

- But he had two bags.

- Everything was sent back.

You don't know anything

about the other bag?

- Por favor.

- Should I stand up?

- Some of your work?

- No, no.

- Didn't need no ice this time.

- No, the weather is all right.

You guys all right for drinks?

Stop it. Come on, stop it.

Get in the kitchen.

I'm sorry, Mr Marlowe. He really doesn't

seem to like you very much, does he?

Hey, Marlboro! You want a dog?

- Come here, you son of a...

- I think I'm gonna take off.

Could you possibly stay for a while?

He's getting very drunk.

- I wanna have a word with you.

- I can't stay for too long.

OK, thank you.

Contessa, I couldn't find you.

Hey, please come over here

and join this little family group

that is growing larger by the instant.

The rest of you,

come over here too, goddammit.

Would you like some wine?

I'll tell you a terrible thing.

I'll tell you a terrible goddamn thing.

I liked you, but suddenly

you come in with my wife?

I was looking for you everywhere.

- You and I talked, right?

- For a long time, yeah.

And we made sense, didn't we?

We touched each other, didn't...

Oh, no.

Oh, no. It's Minnie Mouse.

It's the albino turd himself. Peter Pan.

No. The white knight.

Your name, I've forgotten your name.

I've seen you but I don't know your name.

- Mrs Wade, I'm Dr Verringer.

- How do you do?

- Verringer.

- Verringer.

A mini pistol. This son of a b*tch, let me

tell you one thing about this bastard.

He is the epitome of what's wrong

with this world. He really is.

He pretends to cure people. Can you...

- You cure people?

- Roger, please.

Bullshit.

- You, why are you here?

- Roger, we have business to discuss.

Balls!

- Roger...

- You see this a**hole?

What? Huh?

- Shall we discuss this in private?

- Discuss what?

Or shall we discuss our business here,

in front of all your friends?

- By all means.

- Why don't you go in the study and talk?

I ain't got no study any more.

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